Members of the Powder Kings Snowmobile Club are teaming up with Central Cariboo Search and Rescue for the winter to train and assist as a specialty team.
“The course will be an advantageous way of getting started, we’ve already had two searches and rescues this season and we’re staring down the barrel into Christmas,” said Sue Price, the snowmobile club’s safety director.
In the past the two groups have worked informally but are now cementing the relationship, said Allen Schaad, CCSAR training and search manager during the groups’ first training session held last Thursday at the CCSAR hall in Williams Lake.
“We want to make it more formal but the intent is the same thing. ‘Let’s work together to find people who need help’.”
Schaad said CCSAR has just under 40 members but he is the only one who owns a snowmobile, which has inspired him to work on developing the tag team approach.
“Besides, the Powder Kings have sleds and they know the mountains well,” Schaad noted. “We don’t have the mountain riding skills that you have so we’re better off building teams with skilled riders.”
Schaad and Price have built a course that will run over two evening sessions and a day on the mountain.
In the first evening, which saw 30 people in attendance, the topics ranged from risks and how the two groups can help each other, how calls are initiated, how the chain of command works within CCSAR, to extensive gear lists people should consider when heading out for a rescue so they are prepared to be out for 24 hours.
There will also be an opportunity for members to take avalanche training in the new year in either 100 Mile House or Wells for people who don’t have it yet, Schaad said.
“We want to make it more formal but the intent is the same thing. ‘Let’s work together to find people who need help’.”
Schaad said CCSAR has just under 40 members but he is the only one who owns a snowmobile, which has inspired him to work on developing the tag team approach.
“Besides, the Powder Kings have sleds and they know the mountains well,” Schaad noted. “We don’t have the mountain riding skills, so we’re better off building teams with skilled riders.”
Schaad and Price have built a training course that will run over two evening sessions and a day on the mountain.
In the first evening, which saw 30 people in attendance, the topics ranged from managing risks, how the two groups can help each other, how calls are initiated and the chain of command within CCSAR, to extensive gear lists people should consider when heading out for a rescue so they are prepared to be out in the elements for 24 hours.
There will also be an opportunity for members to take avalanche training in the new year in either 100 Mile House or Wells for people who don’t have it yet, Schaad said.